Yes, He Could

Those who recall “The Man of a Thousand Faces,” by Oliver Jensen in the February/March, 1978, issue, will remember the panoply of faces which accompanied the article—each belonging to President Calvin Coolidge, and each bearing the same gelid frown, as if in disapproval of the photographer, his fellow subjects, and the whole idea of photography. Looking at the pictures, one was moved to wonder if he ever smiled—if, indeed, he could smile.

Yes, he could—and we can prove it. Consider the photograph of the President above, shown with Elihu Root on the left and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Coolidge is not merely smiling; he is grinning outright.